At every stage of understanding the universe better, the benefits to civilisation have been immeasurable. None of those big leaps were made with us knowing what was going to happen.

If people don’t have an understanding of what science is and what scientists do, then they can tend to think that global warming, for example, is just a matter of opinion.

We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.

Science is about exploring, and the only way to uncover the secrets of the universe is to go and look.

Light is the only connection we have with the Universe beyond our solar system, and the only connection our ancestors had with anything beyond Earth. Follow the light and we can journey from the confines of our planet to other worlds that orbit the Sun without ever dreaming of spacecraft. To look up is to look back in time, because the ancient beams of light are messengers from the Universe's distant past.

Science is too important not to be a part of popular culture.

Skepticism must go hand in hand with rationality. When theories are shown to be false, the correct thing to do is to move on.